It has always bothered me somewhat when someone refers to 1 versus 1 deathmatch games like this, because more often than not it clearly shows they haven’t actually played the game enough to know what it really is about.
A lot of people think a shooter like “Quake 3/QuakeWorld” or “Unreal Tournament 2003/2004″ is all about pointing and clicking. What they fail to grasp is that pretty much every thing a player does in a match has some kind of effect on the end result, and as such is important to know about and manage correctly.
I will now try to convince any doubters that might read this that “twitch shooters” is an extremely ignorant way to refer to the above mentioned games.
The biggest part of a 1v1 DM game, I feel, is the mindgame. Before you have actually gotten there this might all just sound like crediting a game with overly sophisticated thinking… But, the way I see it, you have to play for two players in a 1v1 DM game.
You have to be playing your opponent’s game in your head, and go through the same process he does when playing, only; you don’t get all the information. Provided there are multiple choices for your opponent, you have to play through those choices: Evaluate the situation, assign a weight, or a certain percentage of possibility to each choice your opponent has, and adjust your plans accordingly.
Obviously, your opponent should be doing the same thing, and this is where it actually becomes a mindgame. You have to apply this same process to the fact that your opponent is playing the very same game as you, and factor in every way he can possibly try to trick you.
The second thing I would like to bring attention to is timing. Timing will always, to me, be the second most important thing in a 1v1 DM game (or perhaps all competitive gaming). The most apparent reason for this in 1v1 DM games is items (or “pickups”): Weapons, armor, health, powerups. Grabbing a mega health (+100 health) in “Quake 3″ will most certainly help you greatly against anyone.
Timing either just red armor (+100 armor) or both red armor and yellow armor (+50 armor) in a game will probably earn you more room in a match than most people realize.It’s very easy to say it’s just too obvious to comment on, but most people fail to see this event will probably change the entire course of the game from then on. Struggling in a match and finally getting that one item, or perhaps finally getting the chance to nab that weapon you’re exceptionally good with should be to the competitive 1v1 DMer what catching that second wind is to Rocky Balboa.
You might just have thought to yourself: “Did he really mean to put that much weight on a weapon pickup?”. The answer is yes. This might also be an obvious thing to do to most people, but I’ve never seen someone not well versed in 1v1 DM actually put enough weight on this. Of course you’re going to want to keep that rail from your friend who plays with a field of view set to 90 and every key bound to the rail gun, right? But it’s not that big of a deal, is it? It is, in a multitude of ways.
The most basic one is you thought about it for a reason. The mere fact you thought about it shows there is something to worry about.The second reason is psychological: If you let him have that rail he might just get the confidence to stop you from taking command again, and he might just nab every item on the map, because while his confidence got a boost, your confidence just got shaken badly.
My third argument is a mixed bag of smaller things: Movement, flow and simple strategy.
Movement has always been a big part of 1v1 deathmatch. There has traditionally always existed a way to make your movement more effective in both speed and potential. When I say speed I obviously mean to cover more ground in less time, and when I say potential I mean to reach places not possible otherwise. A good example of this is the boostdodge bug that existed in UT2003.
What you did was to move parallel to a wall (so the wall is to either the right or left of you), proceed to tap the key that corresponds to moving away from the wall, then the one corresponding to moving towards the wall, then the one for moving away again. Following this up with a regular jump, then a double-jump when in the air drastically increased your potential in movement. Being that it allowed you to reach places from afar it also drastically increased your movement speed.
Flow. A pretty abstact concept, when applied to a 1v1 DM game, but very important. I am of the opinion that you can’t just take every frag and every encounter separately. There needs to be an agenda; something that allows you to advance your position in the match without just looking for your opponent.
When you have recently had an encounter with your opponent it is important to fall back to this agenda immediately if there is enough time left to actually win or if there is a need to lock a victory up. This is something you see in inexperienced players: They have recently fragged someone and they don’t really know what to do next. They have to look around to see where they should go, it wasn’t actually a part of their plan beforehand. You will most certainly have better luck by making your plan 1st priority and your frags 2nd.
Simple strategy is, well; simple strategy. Evaluating the appropriateness of using a certain weapon, standing on a certain place at a certain time, shooting a blind rocket or spamming grenades to disrupt your opponents flow and movement is all part of the very simplest of strategic choices in a 1v1 DM match.
I’d say you will have more luck trying to kill someone who is equipped with the lightning gun (or “shaft”) in “Quake 3″ with the rocket launcher than using the lightning gun yourself, because of the simple fact that the rocket launcher has the great ability to toss your opponent around. If your opponent is smart, though, he might use the lightning gun at its maximum range, drastically reducing the effectiveness of your rockets and maximizing the potential of the lightning gun.
In fact, it is not that uncommon to see inexperienced players think the rail gun is to be used anywhere, anytime. One could make the argument that the rail gun is in fact a viable choice in any situation, if used by someone well versed, but I contend that it is bad practice, relying on a freak ability that may very well one day be matched or neutralized by smarter strategies. In any case, you’re not maximizing effectiveness with that attitude and you probably could benefit from not being stubborn about it.
To summarize, the reason I’d like to see people not call these games “twitch shooters” is because they are, to a greater extent, about thinking. They are about playing the smart game, not the freak game. To be a great player all these things and more need to be thought of and done all at the same time, and pulling that off takes some good thinking.
If you have opinions on this piece of text, please don’t hesitate to mail me at: svetlana-_- (nospam) telia.com or drop a comment right here.
// Rickard “GoNZooo” Andersson.
